Open AccessResults of the interaction of mercury with alloys of other metals
Author(s) -
J. W. Mallet
Publication year - 1908
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series a, containing papers of a mathematical and physical character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9150
pISSN - 0950-1207
DOI - 10.1098/rspa.1908.0001
Subject(s) - mercury (programming language) , aqua regia , alloy , nitric acid , platinum , chemistry , metallurgy , zinc , nickel , metal , copper , platinum group , rhodium , inorganic chemistry , materials science , catalysis , organic chemistry , computer science , programming language
It is well known that alloying metals with each other often modifies in a remarkable way their several relations to acids and other non-metallic reagents. Examples of this are afforded by the addition of silver to platinum, rendering the latter soluble, along with the former, in nitric acid —by the great resistance to the action ofaqua regia on platinum when alloyed with rhodium or iridium—and by the solubility in cold, somewhat dilute sulphuric acid, of copper in alloy with nickel and zinc as common “German silver.” It seemed interesting to see what the behaviour of fluid metallic mercury would be in relation to alloys of metals solid at common temperatures. For instance, if an alloy of two metals—one of them when alone amalgamating readily with mercury and the other not—should be exposed to the action of mercury, would the former resist amalgamation or the latter be rendered amalgamable, or would each continue to behave as though the other were absent and the mercury take up the one and leave the other intact?